


Rotten Pumpkin

by birdpieces



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, POV Second Person, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26040580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdpieces/pseuds/birdpieces
Summary: Winter sucks, but at least you have Shane.
Relationships: Shane (Stardew Valley)/Reader, Shane/Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 97





	Rotten Pumpkin

**Author's Note:**

> i really am just projecting how i dislike winter in stardew valley and irl huh. idk. i get cold really easily.  
> title is named after the song Rotten Pumpkin by Slothrust because 1) i think it fits the relationship and 2) fits the season

Winter, by far, is probably your least favorite time of year. Any crops are buried by the sheet of snow that persists throughout the season. All of the grass is dried up, making it difficult and costly to feed your animals. But most of all, you just aren’t suited for the cold. The frosty air bites at you every time you step outside, and by the time you finish up with your daily business, your hands are so frozen they can hardly function enough for you to be able to make yourself dinner. In general, this weather simply exhausts you, and you find yourself too tired to do the things you enjoy on most days.

At the present moment, that tiredness is properly settled into your bones. Curled up on the couch while wrapped in a thin blanket, you space out in front of the TV with  _ The Queen Of Sauce _ on. You were excited to maybe learn a new recipe from the program today, but disappointingly, it’s only showing a rerun of one that you already know. There’s not much else to do today, you’ve already gathered milk and eggs from the animals and fed them this morning. Then you spent the rest of the day chopping trees until you were exhausted in order to keep the forest on your lot from becoming overgrown. It’s incredible how bored you become when there’s nothing to grow. Now you’re just left with trying to stay warm, which isn’t going very well. The blanket does a poor job of retaining any heat, and it’s too small to even cover your whole body. You’d be better off just crawling in bed, in all honesty, but the thought makes you depressed.

Outside, you faintly hear footsteps crunching in the snow, and then walking up the porch. With a bit of fumbling the front door opens, inviting in a gust of bitter cold wind, and Shane steps into the house. You turn your head around to peek at him from behind the back of the couch. A shiver runs down his whole body, and you can see the red tint of his cheeks and the tip of his nose.

“Man, it’s cold out there,” he says while toeing off his shoes at the door. He quickly shuts the door then, blocking out anymore of the winter from making its home inside. Your dog lazily trots over to him, but soon backs away from Shane’s freezing touch when he goes to pet him. He simply sighs, and finally makes eye contact with you. 

Shane smiles as he makes his way over to the couch to lean over the back and plant a kiss on your forehead. The feeling of his chilled lips pressed against your skin makes you let out a displeased whine. Shane only chuckles at the sound, straightening back up to his full, not very tall, height. “That’s something, huh. Every other time of the year you’re constantly on the move and full of energy. But now I’ve discovered your one true weakness: the cold.”

You only grumble in response, pulling the blanket over your head, which only leads to your lower half being exposed. You dramatically sit back into the couch with a rough exhale through your nose, glaring at the TV.

Shane just stares at you with a bewildered smile on his face. “This is weird. I haven’t seen you go this long without smiling. Do you think you might have like, seasonal depression or something?” He’s probably only half-joking.

Your shoulders shrug from underneath the blanket and you give him a noncommittal “I don’t know” sound as he leaves you and walks towards the bedroom.

He comes back into the living room a moment later wearing a big, comfy sweater and sweatpants. Shane doesn’t typically go out of his way to get this comfortable, and you can’t help but side-eye his appearance as he takes his spot next to you on the couch. He pretends to be interested in what’s on the TV for a little while before glancing towards you. In your close proximity, he can probably definitely pick up on the way your body is trembling slightly underneath the blanket in an attempt to generate more heat. You hear him sigh through his nose at your pitiful state.

“Hey,” Shane says to you softly, and you turn your head to look at him. The two of you watch each other for a moment before Shane leans towards you, placing his arms on either side of your curled-up body. With some effort, he pulls the ball that is you towards him until your side is snug against his own. Shane leans back with you on the couch, letting out a pleased sigh, and squeezes your form affectionately.

You relax into the embrace, no doubt blushing at the gesture. It’s strange; you never really feel small when you’re with Shane. But in this position, you feel incredibly so. It isn’t a bad thing. In fact, you’re surprised to find it’s quite comforting. And even though Shane was out in the cold not long ago, his body feels so warm pressed against yours. The frozen tension in your shoulders, back and chest gradually seeps out of you and you let yourself melt into Shane. You can feel the smile that creeps up on his face against the top of your head in response to the transformation you’ve gone under: from cold and grumpy to warm and pliant. This time when he kisses your forehead, it’s met with a content sigh rather than a displeased whine.

Winter may suck, but if Shane’s there to keep you warm and comfortable, then you suppose you can put up with it.


End file.
